A helpful reader sent me this tip. While our Congress buries its head in the sand and refuses to update our antiquated skilled immigration system, our neighbors to the north are seeking to take advantage of the paralysis. This is just embarrassing.

When I saw this ICE press release, at first I thought it was a routine work site raid. But this round up of illegally present workers was a little different:

Eighteen illegal aliens were arrested Wednesday morning following an
administrative search warrant that U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) agents executed at a concrete plant here. Larimer
County Sheriff's Office assisted ICE with this operation; and the Air
Branch of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) provided air support.

Just how much effort was really needed here if, as the press release notes, the raided cement company was cooperating?

A federal judge has ordered USCIS to pay attorney Kip Evan Steinberg $25,000 in legal fees after the lawyer's client sued the agency to force it to complete processing in an adjustment of status green card case. USCIS tried to point the finger at the FBI for delays in the name check process, but the judge wasn't buying. The judge found the 151 hours the lawyer put in to the case to be reasonable. So 151 attorney hours were wasted, an individual waited years unnecessarily and America's taxpayers are out $25,000. Think the judge was trying to send a message?

Well, when I noted that DHS blogger Stewart Baker crossed the line when he essentially called the entire human resource professional criminals, I assumed there would be a response. And SHRM has now fired back. The organization sent an email to its nearly quarter million members informing them of Baker's insulting remarks. The money quote:

We find DHS’s false characterization to be uninformed and insulting to the human resource profession.

SHRM has also sent a letter to Secretary Chetoff over the matter. You can see it here.

A few months back, I was in New York attending a board meeting of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the country's oldest refugee assistance organization. At our lunch session, we had the honor of hearing a talk from Wall Street Journal reporter Lucette Lagnado, an investigative journalist who told us her family's immigration story. Ms. Lagnado is an Egyptian Jew whose family came to the US in the 1950s when she was a girl. The transition from a well-to-do Cairo family to struggling refugees in New York was difficult, but so similar to many families in similar circumstances in generations past and today.

Ms. Lagnado has written a wonderful book about her family's experience entitled The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit. I'm enjoying reading it on my vacation this week (I had to wait as the book was passed around in my family). The book has garnered very high ratings on Amazon as well.

Khatuna Lorig will represent the US in Women's Archery at the Beijing Olympics. She previously competed for the Former Soviet Union at the 1992 Games (where she earned a bronze medal) and then the Republic of Georgia in 1996 and 2000. She just missed qualifying in 2004. Now she'll compete in her fourth Olympics for her new country.

According to the Associated Press, this is more than a 20% increase since the 2004 Olympics. The AP article also has some humorous quotes from the antis basically saying that we should only be allowing in Olympic athletes and Nobel Prize winners. What these less than Nobel-level thinkers don't get is that the immigrant society that is the United States is one of the key reasons these 33 athletic superstars chose the US. Some of the athletes came as refugees and at least one was an illegal alien when he entered the country. So I presume the antis should have put an asterisk after their remarks.

By the way, I'll be featuring many of these athletes over the next month in my Immigrants of the Day posts.

Dan Kowalski at Bender's Immigration Bulletin has posted an interesting case from the District Court in the Northern District of California. The court in the case of Reddy v. Mueller found that a two year wait in a naturalization case is presumed to be too long and the judge ordered the immigration service to adjudicate the case within 90 days whether the security clearance is finished or not. USCIS argued that it is overworked and simply can't turn cases around faster. The judge was polite, but dismissive:

Yet, although this court appreciates the administrative burden faced by defendants, it does not find that assertions of overwork alone are sufficient to justify substantial delays.See Yu v. Brown, 36 F. Supp.2d 922, 934 (D.N.M. 1999) ("[D]elays of [a significant] magnitude, particularly when they occur over uncomplicated matters of great importance to the individuals involved, may not be justified merely by assertions of overwork.") (citations omitted). There has been no particularized showing that Reddy's application is especially [*5] complex or presents any national security concerns.

Here's the document and you can also download it directly at Bender's.

I have always loved Nashville from my college days and the eight years I lived in the city after law school. I still make it up every month or so to visit clients. The city is beautiful, has wonderful people, great restaurants and culture and well deserves its ranking as one of America's friendliest cities.

So it really breaks my heart to see anti-immigrant forces in the city working to destroy this atmosphere. Nashville pioneered the 287(g) movement where the city's police force has become an immigration enforcement agency to itself.

What happens when your community has a 287(g) agreement? Read this article in today's New York Times about the latest in a string of cases in Nashville that is, quite simply, abhorrent.

Bruce Braley (D-Iowa), the Congressman who represents the district that includes Agriprocessors, the meat processing plant that was recently the target of the largest work site raid in US history, has released letters that show contradicting stories regarding the government's preparation and management of the raid.

A letter from the U.S. Department of Labor to Rep. Bruce Braley says
the agency was not notified in advance about a raid on an Iowa meat
packing plant — in direct contradiction to a separate letter to Braley
from immigration authorities stating that they “fully coordinated” with
labor officials investigating the plant.

Braley, a Waterloo
Democrat, released the two letters during a conference call with Iowa
reporters today. He called for a “full response” from the two agencies
about what went on prior to and during the May 12 raid at
Agriprocessors in Postville.

“I am concerned that the raid may
have had an impact on the ability of the Department of Labor to conduct
a thorough investigation of labor practices within Agriprocessors,”
Braley said.

The Department of Labor letter, dated July 3 from Kristine Iverson,
assistant secretary for congressional and intergovernmental affairs,
says that “the raid occurred without the prior knowledge or
participation” of the Wage and Hours Division of the department.

On a completely separate note, the Des Moines Register used a very cool tech tool in its story. A new service at Docstoc.com allows for documents to be embedded in blogs like videos (YouTube) and Powerpoints (Slideshare). Here are the letters Braley referred to in the story using Docstoc.

Howard Bachdoesn't sound like a Vietnamese name, but this Vietnamese-born American has a familar Vietnamese-American story. His family immigrated in 1982 as refugees when Bach was just three years old. His father was a political dissident in their country and also an aspiring badminton player who never was able to realize his dream of competing in an Olympics. But he passed his love for the game on to his son and now the younger Bach represents America's best shot at achieving our first medal in the sport.

Back was the first American to win a badminton medal at a world championship, but he'll face tough competition from the Chinese players. The sport is highly popular in China and winning in front of a Chinese crowd will be tough.

Bach's refugee story is outlined in a recent San Francisco Chronicle story.

A reader sent me this link to a Tampa Bay Business Journal profile article on Sheila C. Johnson. Ms. Johnson is one of the most successful business owners in America. She owns major real estate interests and professional sports teams and she is also a major philanthropist. And being an African-American woman, she has no doubt had to work even harder to get to the top. I thought this comment from her interview was especially interesting:

Who are your heroes in the business world?

I know this is going to sound crazy, but with all the hubbub about immigration, I look at the recent immigrants in this country -- the people many are saying are here looking for a handout -- and I realize they are just about the only people actually exhibiting the kind of work ethic that built this country. And they're certainly keeping alive the concept of the American dream. Not only that, but they're doing the kind of jobs that most native born Americans wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole, the jobs many feel are beneath them. I guess I consider these people my heroes because without the work that they do, day in and day, this economy would absolutely crumble.

Note that a subscription to Bizjournal.com is required to see the whole article.

The US Conference of Mayors passed the following resolution at its recent meeting in Miami:

CALLING FOR COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM WHICH PROMOTES THE
REUNIFICATION OF FAMILIES, PROVIDES LEGAL STATUS WITH A PATH TO
EARNED CITIZENSHIP, AND A PLAN FOR CURRENT AND FUTURE IMMIGRANT
WORKERS

WHEREAS, The U.S. Conference of Mayors recognizes
the economic, social and cultural contributions immigrants bring to
their communities; and

WHEREAS, the responsibility of municipal leaders is to protect the wellbeing and safety of all the people residing in their cities; and

WHEREAS,
many local governments have passed resolutions, ordinances and policy
directives reaffirming non-participation in the enforcement of civil
immigration law by city officials and agencies to promote immigrant
trust in its police and avert racial profiling and civil rights
violations; and

WHEREAS, The International Association of Chiefs of Police Guide to Immigration Issues
concludes that local police leaders face a growing set of immigration
related duties in the face of scarce and narrowing resources; and

WHEREAS,
raids and deportations are increasing in scope and number in recent
weeks and months, separating families and spreading terror in our
communities; and

WHEREAS, The U.S. Conference of Mayors
opposes the separation of families by the enforcement of our current
immigration laws and supports the reunification of families that have
been so separated, especially those “mixed status” families with U.S.
citizen children of which there are an estimated four million children
currently in this country; and

WHEREAS, the national political debate on immigration reform has tended to polarize our communities; and

WHEREAS,
it is the duty of local governments to respect the rights of and
provide equal services to all individuals regardless of national origin
or immigration status,

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED
by The U.S. Conference of Mayors acting on behalf of its constituents
to call on the President of the United States to issue an executive
order to cease and desist in the execution of all raids and
deportations that do not relate to our national security or to criminal
activity until comprehensive immigration reform is completed and to
suspend immediately all deportations of parents with U.S. citizen
children; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the U.S.
Conference of Mayors supports comprehensive immigration reform which
promotes the reunification of families, provides legal status with a
path to earned citizenship to the estimated 12 million undocumented
workers and designs a plan for current and future immigrant workers.

About The Author

Greg Siskind is a partner in Siskind Susser's Memphis, Tennessee, office. After graduating magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University, he received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Chicago. Mr. Siskind is a member of AILA, a board member of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, and a member of the ABA, where he serves on the LPM Publishing Board as Marketing Vice Chairman. He is the author of several books, including the J Visa Guidebook and The Lawyer's Guide to Marketing on the Internet. Mr. Siskind practices all areas of immigration law, specializing in immigration matters of the health care and technology industries. He can be reached by email at gsiskind@visalaw.com

The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of ILW.COM.